


Communication is key

by AveryRogers83



Category: Winterhawk - Fandom
Genre: M/M, Marvel MCU - Freeform, winterhawk - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:22:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28331568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AveryRogers83/pseuds/AveryRogers83
Summary: Bucky screws up and pisses Clint off possibly ruining any chance of having more than a working relationship with the archer.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32
Collections: Winterhawk Wonderland - 2020 edition!





	Communication is key

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Harishe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harishe/gifts).



**Title:** Communication is key

**Author:** @averyrogers83

**Warnings:** Fluff, slightly NSFW

**Rating:** Mature, mention of hard on 

**Pairing:** Bucky Barnes, Clint Barton, minor mention of other characters

**Summary:** Bucky screws up and pisses Clint off possibly ruining any chance of having more than a working relationship with the archer. 

**Square Filled:** _ Star-Spangled Bingo (O1)  _ **_Bucky and his disaster blonds_ ** _ ,  _

**Prompts:** **_“What do you have to say for yourself?” “Ooops?”_**

**Words:** 3300

**A/N:** **_This is for Harishe for the @winterhawkwonderland Secret Santa Exchange. Thank you to my betas @shunticles and @ktspree13._**

* * *

There were pivotal moments that changed Bucky’s life and made him who he was today. Some he wished he could forget, some he never wanted to. Like the day his sister Rebecca was born. You would have thought he would have been jealous to have to share his parent’s love with another baby, but it was the complete opposite when Rebecca was born. While his dad felt like another child was nothing more than another mouth to feed, Bucky was happy and excited to have a sibling. He took it upon himself to protect and take care of her. When there wasn’t enough food to eat, he’d give her his. He took care of her when his parents weren’t around. When his dad would come home after work or a night of drinking and would take his rage out on his family, Bucky would tell Rebecca to hide in the closet so she wouldn’t have to see the beatings that would take place. As much as Bucky tried, the one time he couldn’t protect her was a moment he wished he could forget. Throughout his life he would find that he would have plenty more of those moments. 

Then there was the time his dad got transferred to New York. He hated the thought of leaving his friends behind and moving to a big city, but what could he do? That was when he first met Steve Rogers. A scrawny, sickly-looking kid who spent most of his early years either home in bed or being beat up by the local bullies. Even though the bullies were twice his size Steve would get right back up when they knocked him down. Bucky admired that most about the kid. His stubbornness and tenacity. Steve’s need to break down the bullies and Bucky’s need to be his savior created a fast friendship between the two. It was that same tenacity and stubbornness that brought Bucky back from the brink of destruction. When he lost everything about himself, when he became  _ The Winter Soldier,  _ an assassin for hire to the highest bidder, it was Steve that wouldn’t give up and even fought against his new friends to save an old one. 

After everything they had been through, Steve had moved on from being that scrawny kid from Brooklyn to being Captain America and no longer needed Bucky to rescue him. He remembered that day he found Steve behind the theater taking on a guy three times his size; getting his butt kicked and getting right back up because he wouldn’t let the bullies get the upper hand. Yeah, Bucky remembered that day because it was the same day he got his orders. It was also the same day he and Steve went to meet up with Dot and one of her girlfriends. The day he first caught sight of Howard Stark and his failed flying car and Steve’s dozenth time trying to enlist in the Army. Before night’s end he had to say goodbye to his best friend. He remembered that he felt proud and scared all at once. Proud that he was fighting for his country, following in his father’s footsteps. Thankfully, though, he was nothing like the man. He hated the thought of leaving his sister and his Ma, but most of all, he knew he’d miss Steve. Leaving him behind when he had just lost his own Ma... Even though Steve was more like family, Bucky knew Steve would live alone rather than come off as a burden. 

Another period in his life he wanted to forget was the day his unit was held captive and his brothers in arms were one-by-one experimented on. He didn’t know if he would survive those experiments. At one time, he even felt like giving up on the fight and letting everything go; but then he thought about Steve and Rebecca and his Ma: how they always fought for what they believed in, how they were stubborn enough to never give up. Those memories kept him going and made him fight to survive. Just when he tried to remind himself again, about what he was fighting for, his savior arrived in the most unlikely of people. It was funny, the last time he saw Steve, he was still that scrawny, stubborn kid and now...now he was even bigger than Bucky was. He was stronger and more muscular. If Bucky hadn’t been in a confused state when Steve found him, Bucky might have blushed at how he had filled out. Steve being there and saving him gave him a new reason to go on. He took that as a sign to follow his best friend once more. 

Seeing Steve as Captain America gave Bucky mixed feelings. He thought it was because Steve didn’t need him to fight his battles or protect him anymore, but when Peggy came into view, Bucky felt a pang of jealousy. Not because she didn’t pay him any mind, but because Steve seemed to fall all over her when she was in the room and Bucky became invisible. Even though Steve seemed to trip over his feet around her, and it hurt to see it, he would still follow Steve anywhere. They were more than best friends; they were brothers. 

Neither one of them had realized that their reunion would be cut short, though, and their mission would be their last. The last thing he remembered from that time was falling to his death, but somehow, he woke up. He barely felt alive, and nothing like himself. He wasn’t sure how it happened. How was he still alive? No one could have survived that fall, and yet here he was. 

Anyone else would surely be thankful to be alive, but not Bucky. Not when he was experimented on and programmed to do things that he would not otherwise do, if he’d had control of his own mind. They made him forget. He lost himself. He lost everything, and they made him into a monster. It was a time he really wanted to forget the most. There was no way anyone would be able to forgive him. How could they when he couldn’t forgive himself? Even though Steve tried to convince Bucky that he was redeemable, Bucky didn’t see it. He didn’t even see a reason to continue the charade of trying to. 

* * *

A year after becoming an Avenger, Bucky finally felt like he was a part of the team and was able to leave some sort of normal life. That’s when he first noticed Clint. He met Clint on their first mission together. The plan was to infiltrate a Hydra base with Steve, Clint, and Natasha. Steve and Nat headed to the command center to retrieve the files while Clint and Bucky were to gather the weapons then position themselves on the roof to provide cover. Everything was on point and going smoothly until Hydra’s air support appeared out of nowhere and fired upon them. Clint was knocked off the building and Bucky rushed to catch him, hanging onto the ledge with his metal arm as he swung Clint down to the next ledge over, to safety. As soon as he regained his footing, Clint took down the airship with one of his exploding arrows. It didn’t take long after for them to fight off the remaining soldiers and head home. 

Bucky sat in the back and watched as Steve and Nat patched Clint up from his wounds, all the while he protested that he was perfectly fine, even with blood dripping down his arm. It was that same stubbornness that Steve had. 

Clint, it turns out, was loyal to a fault, and usually getting into some stupid bind or another. Clint thought on his feet, rolling with whatever scheme the team came up with, or sometimes one of his own. Bucky could only shake his head. It was like he was a magnet for good looking, blonde, chaotic men. Maybe it was the way Clint made him feel comfortable to be around and how easy he was to talk to. He didn’t know much about the archer—he wasn’t even sure what it was about chaotic stubborn guys that Bucky admired and found alluring—but he found he couldn’t stop staring at the new blonde. Over time he found out they had a lot more in common than he’d realized. Both were broken, had a past they wished they could get over, a desire for redemption, their love for coffee, and not to mention their similarities with tactical maneuvers. The first time they got the chance to grab a cup of coffee together was when Bucky found out that Clint went through his own issues, struggling with the fallout from when Loki brainwashed him into doing things against his will. Bucky also learned that Clint had a questionable past that he was trying to make amends for. It was the first time since his deprogramming that Bucky felt like he might be able to get through his trauma.

* * *

Bucky started making it a point to get up early so he’d run into Clint while he was getting a cup of coffee. He’d schedule his training sessions around the same time as Clint; he even made it a point to volunteer for missions that Clint was also assigned to. The more time he spent around Clint the more he found him attractive. One problem they had was somehow one of them would come home hurt. It was like a running bet between the rest of the team to see which one of them would end up in medical after each mission. 

Which now brings them to their current mission: the first one that someone had thought was a good idea to send just the two of them to accomplish. It was supposed to be a quick, routine mission, according to Steve and Fury. Obviously they didn’t take into consideration who they were sending. ‘Gather your gear and load up the jet, you’ll be gone for a couple of days’ they’d said. Everyone questioned Steve on why he’d sent Bucky and Clint together. Even Maria knew that a mission with just those two wouldn’t go according to plan. However, Steve insisted that Bucky and Clint would be fine. How much trouble could those two get into by doing a simple surveillance mission? Steve could be so naive sometimes. 

Yes, for anyone else it would have been a routine surveillance mission. Standby in the rental across the courtyard, watch for an opening to go in, bug the residence, and get out with intel in hand. Easy enough. That’s how it started, too. They set up their equipment in the rental and watched for their Russian target to leave, giving them the opportunity to rush over and bug the premises. That’s when the proverbial shit hit the fan. 

In their defense, it wasn’t entirely their fault. No one told them that the target had gained a massive rottweiler hiding in one of the rooms, however, the closed door and the low growls emanating from the room at the end of the hall should have been an indication that the door should not be opened. Clint apparently didn’t pay attention to any of the warning signs, not even when Bucky yelled at him not to open the door. What happened next looked more like a clichéd comedy routine between the two highly skilled assassins and the raging mad dog, hell bent on sinking its teeth into them. 

It was a close call a couple of times. The hellhound had caught Clint’s pant leg and yanked it so hard it knocked Clint off his feet, causing a little game of tug-of-war between Bucky and the dog with Clint in the middle. In the end, Bucky won, but not without Clint relinquishing his pants. Somehow, Bucky got the upper hand over the dog and knocked the mutt far enough away for him to get Clint, and the pants, out of the room and slam the door shut just in time to hear a low thud followed by some whimpering. Poor fella would feel that for a minute, but he’d be back up to terrorize others soon enough. It was just unfortunate that Clint’s pants didn’t fare a better fate, as Bucky tossed the tattered pair of pants at his partner. 

The fight with the fifty pound fury assailant made them run a little behind with setting the bugs. They had just barely hidden the last one when they heard their target return, causing them to sneak out the balcony window and slide down the fire escape. It was just a good thing no one was around to see the pair running across the courtyard, two men rushing from one building to the next, one of them only in a tee shirt and boxers carrying a pair of torn up pants. By the time they made it back to their rented loft they were breathless. They stumbled through the door and Clint fell on top of Buck. Bucky hoped that Clint wouldn’t notice the semi hard-on he was getting from seeing Clint in his purple bikini briefs. It had started when he was watching Clint wrestle his pants away from the dog, and before he could make a fool of himself, Bucky pushed Clint off in a huff, afraid that Clint might figure him out. 

When Bucky caught his breath he gave Clint a little scowl and shook his head. 

“Seriously Clint, what the hell?!” 

“What? It wasn’t my fault!” 

“I told you not to open the door, damnit.” 

“Well I didn’t hear you!” 

“I was standing right behind you!” 

“My–damn–!” Clint was so flustered he couldn’t find the words, so he pointed at his ears then walked off to grab his extra set of hearing aids. “Don’t you feel like an ass,” he mumbled. “What do you have to say for yourself?” 

Bucky stared, his face burning as he watched Clint change them out. “Oops?” 

“Oops? That’s it?! Seriously?!” Clint threw up his hands and stormed out. He needed to cool down. 

Bucky had been an ass. He’d assumed that Clint had ignored him and just did whatever he wanted. Most of the time, that was the case. Clint was a rebel and didn’t like rules, so much so that he’d push the limits  _ just  _ enough. So, of course, Bucky automatically thought he’d ignored him. He was wrong, however, and now he felt like a complete jerk. Aside from Steve, Clint was his best friend and he didn’t have many of those. 

Now he had to figure out how to make it up to Clint for being a complete jerk along with figuring out why the damn bugs they just set weren’t working. The target had left the apartment again giving Bucky another chance to get over there and get the bugs working. He needed to get a hold of Clint fast before the target returned. 

With a sigh, he started on his way over to the apartment. Apparently Bucky had pissed him off so bad that Clint wasn’t even answering his phone. They couldn’t wait any longer and he  _ had  _ to go back. He was just about to test the last bug in the guy’s bedroom when he heard the door open and voices filter in from the main room. He scrambled around, trying to find an adequate hiding spot when he heard the voices on the other side of the door. That’s when he decided to dive under the bed. Worst decision of his life. 

Next thing he knew, clothes were dropping on the floor and there were obscene noises coming from above. It was a good thing Clint wasn’t there to see this. At that moment, Bucky envied him. He was sure if Clint was there right now, he would be laughing at him and would have turned his hearing aids off till he was sure they were both done. First chance he got, Bucky bolted out of there and ran back across the courtyard, bursting into the apartment and startling his partner so badly that Clint had his bow set to shoot in seconds. 

“What the hell, Buck! I could have shot you! What the hell happened?” 

“Bugs...working….caught...” 

“What?!” 

Bucky waited till he caught his breath to explain what had happened. 

“The bugs weren’t working, so I went back over there to reprogram them and almost got caught. I got out of there as soon as I could and rushed back over, but...that’s it...” There was no way he was going to tell Clint the rest of it. 

He got a funny look for his trouble. “Well the bugs are working now and I’ve got the intel we need. Let’s pack up and get outta here.” 

“With pleasure.” 

The trip home was made in awkward silence. Clint was still upset with Bucky, and Bucky still felt bad for being an ass and the one time he wanted to have a memory scrubbed from his brain, it would not be possible. 

***

They didn’t say much to each other for the next few days. Bucky took advantage of their distance by keeping himself mysteriously busy. The rest of the team began to worry. They wouldn’t see Bucky for several days, other than to get coffee and food, or go on a mission. Steve got really concerned when Bucky didn’t volunteer for the latest Clint-included mission. 

“Hey Buck…” Steve approached him with ease, “you doing ok?” 

“Yeah, sorry.” Bucky mumbled, too preoccupied with the tablet in his hand to pay much attention to Steve. 

“Come on Buck, I know there’s something wrong.” 

“It’s nothing.” 

“It’s me you’re talking to, I know that’s bullshit. Now tell me what’s eating you.” 

“I like Clint.” His mouth felt like sandpaper even admitting it out loud. “I don’t know how to tell him,” he admitted, “and I’ve pissed him off pretty bad. Probably lost any chance.” He let out a long-suffering sigh, laying back on the couch dramatically. 

Steve couldn’t help but smirk at his friend. He had a feeling Bucky had a thing for Clint and he was right. 

“Why don’t you tell me what happened and we can figure out how to fix this.” 

Bucky gave him a scowl, but Steve was right. If he wanted to make this right, he would need to figure out a way with Steve’s help. He told Steve what happened during their last mission together and how he assumed Clint was ignoring him. Steve looked at his friend at the end of the story and smiled.

“Don't worry Buck, this is a pretty easy fix.” He reassured his friend.

For several weeks, the two super soldiers met in secret where Steve helped Bucky devise a plan. He figured, if communication between his two friends was the problem, then maybe Bucky could figure out a way past it. Steve found all the books and videos he could on sign language and the two practiced together, fast and furious. It was not just a benefit for Bucky but for Steve as well. 

When Bucky felt ready, he left his room in search of Clint, finding him in the kitchen. As he stood by the doorway, he took in a deep breath to calm his nerves and gently touched Clint’s shoulder. Without a word, he began to sign.

_ Hawkeye, I’m sorry for being an insensitive ass. I hope you can forgive me.  _

Clint was at a loss for words. He was in awe of how Bucky had gone out of his way to learn sign language in order to apologize to him. Clint smiled, and, without hesitation, kissed Bucky. Bucky didn’t know what to expect, but when he felt Clint’s lips pressed against his, his heart melted and he wrapped his arms around Clint’s waist pulling him in to deepen their kiss. Despite all their flaws and past mistakes, the two deserved to find happiness. Maybe, Bucky hoped, they could find it in each other. 

  
  



End file.
